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About Us

A young, vibrant string quartet based in the Twin Cities, the Kingsley Chamber Players offers a diverse repertoire of music for weddings and other events.

Hillary Kingsley began playing violin at the age of eleven in her hometown of Marietta, Georgia. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Georgia, where she studied violin with Michael Heald and viola with Maggie Snyder. While at UGA, Hillary was a Foundation Fellow, Presser Scholar, and winner of the UGA Concerto Competition. After undergraduate studies, Hillary moved to the Twin Cities to study violin with Sally O’Reilly at the University of Minnesota, where she recently finished her Master’s degree. The Kingsley Chamber Players began to collaborate during this time, having formed as a student group under the mentorship of Bruce Coppock. Hillary has performed in master classes taught by the Ebène, Talich, Parisii, Tokyo, Juilliard, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, as well as members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Arnold Steinhardt. Her love of music extends to teaching and orchestral performance, and she currently plays with the Quad City Symphony and Orchestra Iowa while maintaining a violin and viola studio in the Twin Cities.

Twin Cities native Meredith Vaughan began her violin studies at the age of five. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Minnesota. Past teachers and chamber coaches include Mark Bjork, Carolyn Huebl, Mary Sorlie, Bruce Coppock, Kathryn Plummer, and Tanya Remenikova, as well as member of the Arianna, Shanghai, Pacifica, Artartia, and Ying Quartets. She has performed extensively throughout the Twin Cities, toured China with the Vanderbilt Orchestra, and participated in master classes with members of the Emerson, Juilliard, and Miro Quartets. Meredith is also passionate about music education and maintains an active studio of students of all ages. Other musical interests include new music, interdisciplinary collaboration, and musical outreach. When she is not playing or teaching the violin, Meredith enjoys cooking, drinking good coffee, and enjoying the outdoors.

Sean Dostal first picked up the viola as a nine-year-old living in Coralville, Iowa, and it was not long thereafter that he discovered his passion for music. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from Luther College, where he studied with Spencer Martin and served as Principal Viola for three years with Luther College’s Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. More recently, Sean has completed his Master’s degree as a student of Korey Konkol at the University of Minnesota. It was here that he first performed with the group that would later become the Kingsley Chamber Players under the tutelage of Bruce Coppock. Sean has participated in master classes with Cynthia Phelps, Katherine Murdock, Robert Vernon, Patricia McCarty, and Samuel Rhodes of the Juilliard Quartet. In addition to his work with the Kingsley Chamber Players, Sean currently serves as Associate Principal Viola of the La Crosse Symphony.

Audrey Slote, a native of Pennsylvania, first ventured to Minnesota to study the cello with Dr. David Carter at St. Olaf College. While at St. Olaf, she received a Christiansen Music Scholarship, worked as a teaching assistant in music theory, and served as principal cellist in the St. Olaf Orchestra. As a leader in the orchestra, she toured China in the summer of 2012, performed on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, and participated in St. Olaf’s world famous Christmas Festival for its 100th Anniversary in 2011. Since beginning her graduate studies with Tanya Remenikova, a former student of the great Mstislav Rostropovich, Slote has played in masterclasses led by Peter Wiley, Anthony Ross, the Pacifica Quartet, and the Cavani Quartet. She maintains a successful performing and teaching career while also analyzing and researching the lives and works of various composers. Slote’s musicological work focuses on intersections between music theory, feminism, and Jewish history. She hopes to empower other young women to pursue music theory, a field in which they are generally underrepresented.